Author: John Paulsen (Page 80 of 937)

      Knicks’ front office fractured over Carmelo talks?

      February 17, 2011 /

      Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes that Knicks management may be at odds over what is a worthwhile deal to make for Carmelo Anthony.

      The Nuggets are selling the idea they’ll be content to keep Anthony through the Feb. 24 trade deadline if no one meets their demands. The Nuggets want to package Anthony and Chauncey Billups for a deal that includes Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, the expiring contract of Eddy Curry and a draft pick, the New York Daily News reported. Another source said Denver is still pushing for more Knicks players, including rookies Landry Fields and Timofey Mozgov, in the package.

      “This is like the Nets talks all over again: Denver keeps moving the goal posts,” one league source said. “They don’t know what they want there.”

      As the Daily News reported, the wild card is Knicks owner James Dolan and the looming possibility he could overrule his president and cut a deal with Denver himself. There are fears that Dolan is listening too much to former president and coach Isiah Thomas and possibly agents and representatives for Anthony who have agendas to undermine Walsh.

      “Donnie isn’t going to make a one-sided deal and gut his team to get this done now,” said one league source who regularly speaks to Walsh. “He’ll end up with two unhappy stars because they have no supporting cast. But if Dolan gets more involved in this, he could really makes a mess of this.”

      The reason a deal isn’t already done is because Donnie Walsh is exercising great patience. He knows that the Nuggets’ bargaining position isn’t as strong as they’d like people to believe. He thinks he can get Anthony and Billups for Gallinari, Felton and a first round pick (or Anthony Randolph), but it sounds like the Nuggets are continuing to ask for more.

      But time’s a wastin’. The Nuggets aren’t likely to let the trade deadline pass without getting something for Carmelo. The team isn’t playing well and they aren’t a threat to make a strong playoff push with a fractured locker room. If Denver balks at a trade with the Knicks, then the Nuggets risk going the way of the Cavs or Raptors…and look at those teams now.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Knicks have “more of a sense of urgency” with regard to Carmelo trade

      February 16, 2011 /
      New York Knicks Amar’e Stoudemire, Timofey Mozgov, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler (L) wait during a fourth quarter timeout against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 11, 2011. The Lakers defeated the Knicks 113-96. UPI/John Angelillo

      Alan Hahn of Newsday has the details:

      As we reported on Monday, a source with knowledge of the situation said there is “more of a sense of urgency” from the Knicks to get a deal done before the deadline rather than to wait until free agency. But that doesn’t mean the Knicks would be willing to pay top dollar if they know they’re the only bidder.

      The Knicks know landing Carmelo would pave the way to attracting Chris Paul in 2012. But if Denver comes in at the 11th hour and demands the Knicks to add, say, Al Harrington (2012-13 salary of $6.68 million) or Chris Andersen’s ($5.2 million in 12-13), that would compromise their ability to sign Paul, or Deron Williams, in 2012, plus build a championship-caliber roster.

      This looks like it could go one of three ways, assuming the Nets (or some other team) doesn’t step up with a new offer:

      1. The Knicks and Nuggets come to terms. Trade is executed before the trade deadline.
      The Knicks would like to acquire Carmelo now, but they don’t want to sell the farm to get him. The Newsday piece states that the Knicks are willing to give up Danilo Gallinari OR Wilson Chandler, and are willing to give up Raymond Felton for Chauncey Billups as well. Rookies Landry Fields and Timofey Mosgov, as well as Anthony Randolph, are also up for discussion.

      I don’t think it would be wise to give up more than two of the following four players: Gallinari, Chandler, Fields or Mosgov. Fields is especially valuable since Anthony’s arrival woudn’t cut into his playing time, and he is arguably the Knicks’ best perimeter defender. Mosgov has also shown some flashes and is a 24-year-old legit seven-footer, so he has quite a bit of value as a prospect. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Knicks and Nuggets can come to terms. The article also states that the Nets thought they had a done deal before the Nuggets came back asking for more. The same thing might be happening here.

      2. No trade is made. Anthony signs with the Knicks in the summer.
      We don’t know if Carmelo wants to play in New York so badly that he’s willing to pass up $65 million in guaranteed money. This would be the ideal option for the Knicks, because they’d be able to sign him outright without having to give up many assets. But with the uncertainty of a new collective bargaining agreement looming large…

      3. Carmelo panics when no trade is made and signs extension with Denver.
      He could very well decide that playing in New York is not worth passing up the guaranteed money. Ideally, he’d get traded to the Knicks and sign the three-year extension with New York, but if the trade doesn’t go down, the money might be too good to pass up. He’s already admitted that he would take a long look at signing the extension if he isn’t moved before the trade deadline.

      The thing to look for as the next week progresses is whether or not the key names in this trade are suiting up for games. If a deal is imminent, teams will usually rest players so that they don’t suffer a deal-breaking injury before the trade is finalized, so if Carmelo suddenly misses a start, we know something is likely to happen soon.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Sorry, but Green Bay’s “G” does not stand for “greatness”

      February 16, 2011 /

      The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel followed up Tiki Barber’s assertion that the “G” on the Packer helmet stands for “greatness” not “Green Bay.”

      When I first heard about this greatness stuff, I asked Aaron Popkey, spokesman for the Packers, to set the record straight. He conferred with Tom Murphy, archivist at the Packers Hall of Fame.

      “The Packers have no knowledge of it being anything other than Green Bay,” Popkey said. “Maybe it was Tiki Barber having some fun with it.”

      Here’s the original segment:

      Midwest Sports Fans puts a period at the end of this sentence…

      Final thought: does anyone else think that Tiki Barber seems like the kid in elementary school who loved to know something that no one else did and loved even more running around saying “Na-na-na-na-boo-boo” and rubbing it in that he knew it and you didn’t? I think so. I also think this video sums up Tiki Barber quite well.

      The fact that Yahoo! Sports let Tiki run with this segment has to be a little embarrassing. I wonder if anyone researched Tiki’s “facts” before he hit the Packer media day.

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL, Video

      2011 College Football Program Power Rankings

      February 16, 2011 /
      Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor hands off the ball to tailback Dane Sanzenbacher in the third quarter at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans during the 77th Annual Allstate Sugar Bowl January 4, 2011. The Buckeyes won 31-26 UPI/Dave Fornell

      Almost a year ago we decided to try to quantify the stature of college football programs so that we could rank them against one another. (Click here for the 2010 Rankings.) Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed.

      Here’s how the total points are determined — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million, so for 2011 that would be Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Insight, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name.

      We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools.

      Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program saw an upgrade or downgrade at the head coach position in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.)

      So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.

      1. Ohio State (58)

      Previous Rank: #2 (+1)
      Some college football fans will take issue with the Buckeyes being No. 1 because of their “soft schedule.” But this is a team that has dominated its conference five of the past six years and has finished no worse than second in each of the past six seasons. They’ve also appeared in two title games (though they lost both) and nine straight BCS bowl games, winning the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl in the past two years. They’ve got an interesting season coming up though. Five of their players including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan Herron and receiver DeVier Posey will miss the first five games next year after being suspended. Can the Buckeyes stay unscathed until those players return?

      2. Florida (51)

      Previous Rank: #1 (-1)
      If it weren’t for Urban Meyer leaving the program (and their lousy 2010 season), the Gators would probably still be ranked No. 1. They have three conference championships and two national championships in two years, but the lose of Meyer hurts big-time in these rankings. But don’t fret Florida fans, if Will Muschamp gets the program back on the right track then the Gators won’t be at No. 2 for long.

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      College Football, External Sports

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